Au Co – The manufacturer of high-class dietary supplements

Mr. Ha Hong Phuc: “Au Co foundation was the milestone marking the development of dietary supplement industry in Vietnam”

On November 22 2014, Au Co Investment Corporation and Production was granted the certificate of “Good Manufacturing Practice in Health Supplement (GMP-HS) to recognize its effort in “upholding quality” during manufacturing to ensure that the company can supply dietary supplements in accordance with international quality standards.

Always being a pioneer

Dear Sir, it is known that Au Co Company was established 7 years ago. At that time, in Vietnam, dietary supplements industry in general and particularly dietary supplement manufacturing was still rather primitive. And it can be said that Au Co foundation was the milestone marking the development of dietary supplement industry in Vietnam. How do you think about this statement?

Dietary supplement market just started in Vietnam from 2006 – 2007, however, most products were imported. At the time of establishing Au Co, in our country, there were some manufacturers of dietary supplement, but they were usually in collaboration with pharmaceutical manufacturers or transferred from pharmaceutical ones. However, since its foundation, Au Co has had a clear direction: specialized in dietary supplements manufacturing with smart investment in this field.

Until now, after seven years of steadfast investment and development in specialized facility of dietary supplement, Au Co has become the pioneer company to comply with GMP principles and granted for GMP-HS certification in Vietnam. That five-year journey not only affirms the maturity of Au Co, but also the maturity of domestic dietary supplement industry. We are capable, qualified and experienced enough to produce dietary supplements with quality at least comparable to other countries in the region.

Upholding quality

As you have just shared, Au Co has oriented to specialize in manufacturing dietary supplements. Could you please share more about your company policy to implement that orientation?

Au Co always commits to completely “attribute the importance on quality” in every activity. Quality control is carried out throughout the whole manufacturing process, from sourcing raw material, manufacturing technology, until finished product.

With the idea of providing high quality dietary supplements products, Au Co is well-invested in equipment, manufacturing technology and the most important factors are the effective quality management system and compliance with “Good Manufacturing Practice” (GMP).

GMP deployment and application is a difficult task, however, at Au Co, every staff must understands GMP, implements GMP principles and considers GMP as the standard of every activity. At Au Co, from factories, auxiliary systems, documents, research and development to human resources training and development must be in accordance with the standard.

Au Co has smart investment in manufacturing dietary supplement

There must be many difficulties in orienting to specialize in manufacturing dietary supplements right at the time of foundation. Would you mind sharing about the difficulties that Au Co has encountered?

There are two main difficulties, which are: policy of dietary supplement in Vietnam at that time was not tightened and not every partner and customer had the same concept of “upholding quality” as Au Co.

At that time, the guidelines on GMP-HS principles were not available. However, finding ways to create high quality products is constantly on our mind. If there wasn’t any standard, Au Co would propose and “force” ourselves to follow it. Until now, even when Circular No. 43/2014/TT-BYT regulating the management of functional foods was issued, the compliance with GMP-HS principles which were harmonized in ASEAN is not a compulsory regulation. We will have a roadmap to apply these principles at dietary supplement factories in the near future. Through which it can be confirmed that: Au Co always step ahead in investment and development to become the number-one/most prestigious address to partners seeking a dietary supplement manufacturer who is capable, qualified enough and has international prestige.

However, at the beginning, the consistent in smart investment strategy led Au Co into difficulties in approaching partners and customers, as not every partner and customer had the same concept of “upholding quality”. Thus, only like-minded companies chose to cooperate with Au Co and we are proud of our partners, who are also the distributors of the leading dietary supplements products with Vietnamese brand.

Human resources are the core value to create our success

Seven years is a pretty long journey which Au Co has experienced the ups and downs. In which, what do you remember the most?

The biggest “property” which Au Co has achieved is the steadfast spirit of all staff. I think it is the foundation Au Co’s success.

To Au Co, human resources are the core value to create our success.

Having overcome the initial difficult period and stabilized in the development, so what is the orientation of Au Co for the long-term, Sir?

As of now, the partners only need to look at the manufacturing process of dietary supplements which have been invested and developed well, together with GMP-HS principles applied at Au Co, and then they can put their faith in us. Not only to partners, with all its efforts, Au Co intends to build the brand of Number-one manufacturer of dietary supplement in the mind of consumers. It can be easily understood that: Every product which is manufactured at Au Co has high quality. It is also the commitment of Au Co to partners and consumers!

Thank you for your above sharing and we wish that Au Co will continue to maintain its pioneer position in Vietnam dietary supplement industry.

GMP-HS (Good Manufacturing Practice in Health Supplement) is one of three principles required for dietary supplement research and manufacturing companies. The two others include: GAP (Good Agricultural Practice) and GLP (Good Laboratory Practice). Meeting the requirement of these three principles, dietary supplements made in Vietnam will find their own market in ASEAN countries and reach out to all over the world.